Stratham, Portsmouth offer lessons in democracy

This past week I saw the best of democracy play out in Stratham and Portsmouth, and corrupted democracy begin to emerge in the race for U.S. Senate.

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By Howard Altschiller

seacoastonline.com

By Howard Altschiller

Posted Mar. 23, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Howard Altschiller
Posted Mar. 23, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

This past week I saw the best of democracy play out in Stratham and Portsmouth, and corrupted democracy begin to emerge in the race for U.S. Senate.

In Stratham last Friday night, voters gathered for Town Meeting, as they have gathered for almost 300 years, to conduct the town's business through direct democracy.

As Stratham's population has increased and more trails have been cleared in Stratham Hill Park to make the town forest accessible to hikers and bikers, concern has grown about hunting, which has taken place on these lands for generations.

A petition to ban hunting was brought forward by citizens, led by Tana Ream, a young mother whose children play in the park and who said she was shocked to learn that hunting is allowed in such close proximity to an active recreation area.

At Town Meeting, Tana and her supporters acknowledged the importance of hunting in maintaining healthy wildlife populations and kept focused on a single point: The risk of an accident outweighed the need of hunters to use Stratham Hill Park.

The hunters, led by Dan Crow, who is also president of the Stratham Hill Park Association, reminded voters that hunters have used the park for generations without incident or accident. He highlighted the increasing danger of tick-borne diseases and asserted that controlling the deer population is a matter of public health.

While debating the issue of hunting, townspeople were also clearly debating the town's identity. Had Stratham's population grown to the point where long-held traditions such as hunting in the park were no longer possible?

In the end the hunting ban narrowly passed, but only after Moderator David Emanuel made certain that all voices were heard.

On Monday night, at the Portsmouth City Council meeting, nearly 30 residents rose to address whether the Historic District Commission should have the power to allow developers to build higher than 45 feet in two areas of the city by granting conditional-use permits.

Speakers on both sides of the issue were informed, respectful and passionate, because underlying the question of building heights was the larger issue of Portsmouth's identity. As Assistant Mayor Jim Splaine asked so often in his Portsmouth Herald column, "How big can Portsmouth get and still be Portsmouth?"

Speakers who favored repeal of the conditional-use permit believe the city has grown too fast, in too haphazard a manner and that land-use boards, however well intentioned, have lost control.

Those in favor of allowing conditional-use permits expressed more confidence in the city's land-use boards and felt that empowering the HDC to negotiate with developers by offering up to 60 feet in height in exchange for concessions deemed a public benefit, would result in higher-quality buildings.

In the end, the council voted 5-4 to repeal the conditional-use permit, but only after Mayor Bob Lister made certain that all voices were heard.

In both Stratham and Portsmouth, every citizen was equally empowered to share his or her thoughts. No one was allowed to use a louder microphone, to monopolize the debate, to shout down opposition.

In the race for U.S. Senate a different trend is emerging.

In candid comments during a visit to Portsmouth on Tuesday, presumptive Republican candidate Scott Brown said: "This is going to be a very expensive race, and I believe I can raise the money necessary to get the message out and to battle on a national basis and on a local basis."

When I asked him whether he thinks money contributes to Congress' dysfunction, he evaded the question. "I don't think it's really related to the money," he said.

Already hit by $700,000 in attack ads by the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity and bracing herself for another $650,000 in attack ads from Karl Rove's American Crossroads Super PAC, incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is clearly worried about the role money will play in the race, though she too has outside groups attacking Brown on her behalf.

Shaheen has called on Brown to take The People's Pledge, which Brown and rival Elizabeth Warren took when they ran for the Massachusetts Senate seat in 2012, essentially agreeing to discourage outside third-party advertising in their race. Brown lost that election, so that has probably dampened his enthusiasm for the pledge he once so heartily endorsed. Shaheen has also been aggressively raising funds in anticipation of this race. Brown's every action for the past two years has triggered a fund-raising plea.

The flood of outside money to the Senate race in New Hampshire is the equivalent of a giant bully standing up at Stratham Town Meeting or the Portsmouth City Council and drowning out the voices of ordinary citizens. If only the bully is heard, we lose the wisdom of our friends, neighbors and fellow citizens. If our elected officials can only hear the bully, and fear the bully, then that's whose bidding they'll do.

Because campaign finance laws won't be changing anytime soon we need to make sure we don't let the big money bullies shape our opinions of these two excellent candidates. Be skeptical of the slick attack ads that will dominate your television screens between now and November. They peddle half-truths, distortions and outright lies.